Settlement Language Training PD

I teach a Professional English Language Training (PELT) class at CLBs 6-8. the PELT program incorporates intercultural communication training. I would like to set up a forum for applying the vocabulary students learn in English class about dimensions of culture to discuss questions and concerns about intercultural communication issues with other students and the intercultural communication workshop facilitator.

The Glossary entries certainly could be an application which is useful within the classroom. Students would be able to access a list of resume/cover letter buzzword, a list of hard and soft skills that they could add to their resumes, and other job related vocabulary which they may encounter while looking for a job.

Many of my learners experience a glossary for the first time when they begin an online class. I select a series of readings that promote online learning as a great way to learn and build a glossary of terms with them during the readings and the reply is usually "oh, a glossary is just like my vocabulary notebook but in alphabetical order"...great learning for the learners. This teaches them that their skills are transferable to online learning.

Students watch a particular Canadian TV program such as Amazing Race Canada. Each group watches one program. They discuss the segment on the discussion forum. They come back to class with vocabulary and questions.

I assign these activities as homework, but tracking the completion and progress is next to impossible. Now, I will be able see who needs a bit of a push to do some independent studying. 

I only show the students SCORM activities that were previously discussed about in class in order that they do not get lost on a busy web page.

Working with Literacy students, I see a lot of use in adding new links and using them. It always takes quite a lot of work for me to walk around the computer lab and assist students to type in the link to the activity we are about to do. I really enjoy adding all useful links to the course and students just follow  them. Leave alone the fact that sometimes I forget some wonderful internet resources as we move from one topic to the other. So the idea of keeping them nicely organized in one place is very useful. 

I find that whatever I used to do with a tape recorder, I can do much better using a computer.  Preparing a news item takes less time when you can insert  a link to the website.  You can create any type of exercise: answering questions, cloze, true/false, multiple choice, putting in the order in which something was heard, summarizing, etc.  Depending on the length of the news story, this can be done with almost any level.  When I used a tape recording in class, some students caught on quickly, but others could not grasp at the same speed.  Therefore, in the computer lab, everyone can work at their own pace, stopping and repeating as often as they wish.  This is great for multilevel classes, which I'm sure most of us have.  

When I first introduced the LINC courseware in computer lab and assigned homework, about 2/3 of my class  reported that they could not complete the homework because of trouble logging in or navigating the site (although the majority in the class report having a computer in their home many never use it). So for the following two computer classes, I would periodically instruct all students to log off after finishing an activity, and then log in again.  This simple repetition and consequent familiarization with the process eliminated the frustration of not being able to access it at home, as they are all now experts in getting onto edulinc.org!